Last week of May 2019 I was in the United States of America. I never wanted to go to that country as I felt it was too big to be explored. When my niece, Asha, who is a resident of New Jersey insisted that I should visit the USA, ( this she was doing since over 5 years whenever she came down to her place of origin) I found it was impossible to postpone my visit any longer as I had exhausted all my excuses which could avoid visiting the said country.
When I finally decided to visit the USA, I told her that for this she should chalk out a very interesting itinerary for me to cover some places in USA. I also told her that since nearly 45 years, I have been touring places with my German Friend whom I befriended as a pen friend when I was just a young boy of 20 years and that the programme she chalked out should be acceptable for both of us. My niece who is a kind-hearted person readily agreed and said that she would try to push in as many places as possible in the itinerary so that within a short time we could get glimpses of several places of the Eastern side of USA and Western side to be explored next year. Thus she prepared a programme which kept me occupied for 9 days excluding the travel time. She sent sponsorship letters and supporting documents to enable me to get a visa to the USA and went on calling me on facetime so that I should not change my decision.
I usually go on vacation during the summer recess of Courts when we get almost a month’s holiday. Therefore the decision to visit was agreed to be implemented in the month of May.
In fact, I was told by my friends that the most gruesome task in visiting the USA is the procedure of getting a visa to enter the USA. I applied for the visa and with all the documents sought for by them. I was surprised that there were no steps which made me regret my idea of applying for a visa. The entire process was smooth. The person sitting in the counter at the Vice-Consulate at Chennai was very friendly and within a couple of minutes, the entire process was over. They used to say that one had to stand in a long queue. This phenomenon I find largely among Asian people. They go to the venue of interview an hour in advance which makes them stand in queue for their turn. The Consulate has made it clear in the invitation letter that one should arrive only 5 minutes in advance of the appointed time. In fact one can avoid this by reaching the place at the scheduled time. The visa was forwarded to me to my house address and the same is valid for ten years which may outlast my lifetime. This ten-year validity of the visa makes me wonder why other countries also do not follow the same system. This will obviate the need to obtain every time a person decides to go to that country again.
Having got the visa, I finally prepared the dates of the visit and also purchased air tickets etc. I decided to visit the USA between 14th and 22nd May. To enable my German friend to join me, I decided to visit Germany first and then proceed to the USA with my friend. I was wondering what kind of Country USA was. People say that once you step into that country it does not allow you to leave it without regrets. But I wondered whether I would be influenced by American lifestyle because by this time I had already toured entire Europe including most of the erstwhile European communist Countries. Perhaps if I recollect properly, I think I might have visited Germany for more than 25 times. Though Europe is very beautiful especially the landscape, people and other features which make life easy, it did not make me adopt any of the European countries for my living. So I knew that nothing would influence me against my love for my country, that is Bharath Mata ki Jai.
Having got the visa for the USA, I also applied for a visa to go to Germany since I wanted my pen-friend, Elke Wilkens to join me on my trip to the USA. We have been travelling together every year right from 1975 till now in the months of April and May when our courts are on vacation. Getting a German visa was not a very difficult task as I was having all the requirement to get their visa. Having got both the visas I told my niece that I would spend at least 10 to 12 days in the USA ( including travelling time ) and requested her to chalk out a programme for us. As I said she is a resident of New Jersey and we decided to confine our visit only to the eastern part of USA. Since her place is near Newark Airport, we agreed to start our journey from that point and visit nearby places within the time earmarked by us for our visit.
I should say without any hesitation she chalked out such a beautiful programme by which we could spend all the days visiting one place or the other, that too systematically and cover as many places as possible. I feel that people visiting the USA may follow this programme schedule so that they too can experience the USA as we did.
With this, I decided to fly to Frankfurt on my way to the USA to see for myself the dreamland of quite a few Indians who feel successful in life by getting a foothold there.
My experiences in the USA will be stated on the next page.